Life After Bankruptcy

There are scores of inaccurate beliefs about what happens to someone after they’ve received bankruptcy protection.  What people read on the Internet, hear from friends and family, see in advertisements from “tax repair” services, “credit repair” services, “debt consolidation” services and the like is often (at best) misleading or misinformed, and (at worst) downright criminal. [...]

A Roof Over Your Head or Your Credit Score?

Q:  I’m unemployed and will soon have to choose between paying the mortgage and paying my other debts. If the unemployment continues I’ll have to choose between feeding my family and paying any bills at all, including the mortgage. What can I do to preserve my credit score while I look for a job and [...]

How Debt Settlement Works

The nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County produced an excellent video on how debt settlement works — usually against you. We’ve written on this topic several times on our blog as well. If you decide to hire someone to help you settle, consolidate or otherwise manage your debts, then be very wary of [...]

I’ll Just Ignore the Certified Letters

Some people think they can tie their creditors’ hands by ignoring requests for payment or by contesting their debts with a credit bureau. They also call our offices for help cleaning up their credit reports, which is not a service we offer. If you wish to dispute an entry to your credit report, we suggest you use [...]

Debt Consolidation/Relief Part 2 of 2

In the first part of this series, we covered the misleading things that businesses advertise on television, radio and elsewhere for “debt consolidation” or “debt settlement” services. If you decide to enter into an agreement with a creditor, or want to fix a bad credit score keep these five things in mind. How to proceed [...]

Debt Consolidation/Relief Part 1 of 2

Hardly a day goes by without seeing on television, or hearing on the radio, a commercial for “debt consolidation” or “debt settlement” services. Often, the ad includes a statement to the effect that if you owe more than $10,000.00 in credit card debt, you have the “legal right” to settle for less. Further, we frequently [...]

Credit Report Disputes

People often call our offices for help cleaning up their credit reports.  We suggest they use this letter, provided courtesy of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County. We advise sending the letter to all three bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian), by certified mail, return receipt requested, and including their SSN and full legal [...]

Mortgage Modification Mixups

My law partner, Rick Mitchell, and I are disgusted by the false promises and abysmal performance of the nation’s mortgage lenders who claim to be participating in the “Making Homes Affordable” program.  Homeowners were lured into this program with the expectation that they would get an answer within the “modification period” (usually 3-6 months) and [...]

The Tax Man Lienith

After ten years the Internal Revenue Service issued 475% more liens last year than it did in 1999. A recent CNNMoney story quoted national taxpayer advocate Nina Olson saying, “Taxpayers are being greatly harmed for very little benefit to the government.” In her annual report to Congress, Ms Olson says the IRS must do more [...]

Who Defaults, and Why?

This month we’ve run a series for distressed homeowners and published NC foreclosure data. To round out our coverage on the topic I want to discuss a paper written by James E. Rogers of the University of Arizona’s College of Law because it runs counter to what people generally believe is happening with people “walking [...]

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